William a



(No Model.)

W. A. BEIN.

DAMPER FOR PIANOS.

No. 560,152. Patented May 12, 1896.

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ANUN-W u GNAHAM mow-mm WASNINGTDNDC UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

IVILLIAM A. BEIN, OF NEIV IIAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THESI'IONINGER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

DAM PER FOR PIANOS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 560,152, dated May 12,1896.

Application filed November 5, 1895. Serial No. 568,020. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. BEIN, of Newllaven, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inDampers for Pian os and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, iii- Figure 1, a detached view, in inside eleva tion, of adamping device constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, anenlarged view thereof in transverse section; Fig. 3, a broken viewshowing a modified form which the treble portion or portions of the feltstrip may assume.

My invention relates to an improvement upon the damper for pianos forwhich United States Patent No. 5i2,132 was granted July 2, 1.895, uponmy application, to The 13.811011- iuger Company, the object of thispresent invention being to improve the damper disclosed in the saidpatent by modifying it so as to combine with its damping action an effeet which may bc'utilized musically if desired.

'With these ends in vicw my invention consists in certain details ofconstruction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafterdescribed, and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention, as herein shown, I employ a sheet-metallip-tube A, having a lip A extending throughout its length, whichprovides for the attachment, by screws 1), of a wooden felt bar 13, theouter edge of which is longitudinally rabbeted, as at b, to receive theupper edge of the felt mufflerstrip,which consists, as herein shown, oftwo bass sections C and C and two treble sections C and C these severalsections constituting the felt strip. The ends of the liptube A receivewooden plugs A one of which is shown in Fig. 2, the said plugsreinforcing the tube for the attachment of the arms A A, bymeans ofwhich the device is pivotally connected with the inner faces of the endsof the piano-case. These two arms A A are alike except for the provisionof one of them with a coupling-arm A, through which themuffler-sticlgwhich is not shown, acts for the operation of the devicein the manner set forth in my prior patent. The lower edges of the basssections C and C of the felt strip are made continuous, those portionsof the strip being designed to have full muffling or damping action; butthe sections C and C of the said strip are divided into a series offingers C of which there is one for each string, whether the same be asimple or a compound string, and the string-face of the lowerend of eachfinger is hardened,while the opposite or hammer face is untouched, andtherefore composed of soft felt. The hardened face maybe hardened eitherby the application of small squares D of paper or other suitablematerial or by applying a coating to the said edge of shellac or othersubstance which hardens when dry. As shown in Fig. 1, the fingers aremade by forming transverse slits in the portions 0 and C of themuffler-strip. If desired, however, they may be made as shown in Fig. 3,in which the strip E is fashioned upon its edge to form scallops E, thestring-faces e of which are hardened. If desired, the fingers might bemade independent of each other, though that construction will probablybe less convenient than either of the constructions shown.

In the use of a damper constructed in accordance with my invention thebass portion or portions of the felt muffler-strip have a markedmuffiing action, the same as provided for in my prior patent referredto, but the muffiing action of the treble section or sections ismodified, so that although it is markedly muffied it has yet moredifferentiation of tone than when the treble portion or portions of themuffier-strip are continuous. This modified tone in the treble combineswith the muffled tones of the bass in the production of effects whichmay be utilized in the performance of some compositions with pleasingeffect, the tone of the piano being reduced from its grand orchestraltone to a tone re.- sembling that of some light stringed instrument.

It is apparent that in carrying out my invention some changes in theconstruction set forth may be resorted to, and I would therefore have itunderstood that I do not limit myself to the exact form shown, but holdmyself at liberty to make such alterations as fairly fall Within thespirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described myinvention,w11at I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Adamper'having its felt strip composed of one or more continuous bassportions and one or more treble portions, the latter being divided intofingers having hardened stringfaces and soft hammer-faces, substantiallyas described.

2. In a piano-damper, the combination With a long, sheet-metal lip-tubehaving a depending lip extending throughout its length, of a Wooden feltbar secured by its upper edge to the lip of the said tube, and havingits opposite edge longitudinally rabbeted, and a felt mufller-stripsecured to the feltbar by the insertion of its upper edge into the abbetthereof, and comprising one or more continuous bass portions and oneormore treble portions, the latter being divided into fingers havinghardened string-faces and soft hammer-faees.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing Witnesses.

WM. A. BEIN. \Vitnesses FRED. C. EARLE, Giro. D. SEYMOUR.

